SAN ANTONIO -- Free agent guard Derek Anderson has made a verbal commitment to sign with Portland, and his agent has asked the San Antonio Spurs to try to work out a sign-and-trade deal with the Trail Blazers.

&quot;He's verbally committed there,&quot; agent Tony Dutt said Friday. &quot;It's disappointing that it didn't work out with the Spurs, but at the same time Derek feels happy with the Portland situation.&quot;

Anderson has agreed to sign for the mid-level exception of $4.5 million. His six-year deal, with an opt-out clause after five years, would be worth $34 million.

Anderson had been negotiating with the Spurs over the past two weeks but was unhappy that San Antonio would not guarantee a sixth year or give him the maximum allowable raises from year to year.

Dutt had said Thursday there was a &quot;50-50&quot; chance Anderson would leave.

&quot;We wanted to stay, but we got to the point where we realized it wasn't going to happen there,&quot; Dutt said.

Aside from the Trail Blazers, other teams expressing interest in Anderson were the Cavaliers, Mavericks and Heat, Dutt said.

Anderson, a four-year veteran who also spent time with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Clippers, was the Spurs' second-leading scorer last season with an average of 15.5 points per game.

He was injured during a second-round playoff series against Dallas and did not return until Game 3 of the Western Conference finals against the Lakers.

His departure leaves the Spurs with a big hole to fill at shooting guard.

Team officials from the Spurs and Trail Blazers were not immediately available for comment.&quot;

This gives Portland another talented player but with a good attitude. He's a step in the right direction for a team that could still end up being better than us.

I would have rather seen Anderson sign a long deal with the Spurs and waste away there as SA's geriatric roleplayers slowly die of old age, crippling the team and preventing it from doing anything in the playoffs...

seelenjaeger

07-20-2001, 06:07 PM

and i am quite afraid the spurs will get something in return - i doubt they will deny to do a sign-and-trade
strickland? maybe. or smith?

j

Mavinator

07-20-2001, 06:35 PM

On the other hand, is this the ideal opportunity to step in and try to appropriate Dale Davis through a three-way or four-way sign and trade? Do we have anything that would interest San Antonio? We definitely have a lot of young, talented players with small contracts, and that strikes me as something SA should be looking for right now.

Not that a three-way trade between three Western Conference contenders is all that likely...

MavsFanFinley

07-20-2001, 08:58 PM

I would look for SA and Portland to work out a deal to make everyone happy. I doubt they give up Bonzi Wells, but Smith is reasonable. Not sure all the other details to make things tidy but Im sure things will get worked out.

#41

07-23-2001, 05:29 AM

When I only read the subject of this post I had to kick my monitor! The Trail Blazers are such stupid motherfuckers. How can Derek agree to join this 20 overpaid 80s allstars team. And this team has already got 2 starting shooting guards in Bonzi Wells and Steve Smith.
Please stay in San Antonio Derek!

MAVS GERMANY (http://mavs.exit.de)

TheKid

07-24-2001, 11:43 AM

It looks like the Bulls are the team that got royally screwed here. With them signing Eddie Robinson they were looking to do a three way trade with Portland, Spurs and the Bulls. The Spurs were going to get Steve Smith, Portland were get Ron Mercer and the Bulls were going to get Derek Anderson. However Portland managed to work something out with Derek Anderson so he's going to Portland without the assistance of the Bulls. Oh well, I feel so sorry for the Bulls, (YEAH RIGHT).. However Portland, I don't know what those clowns are trying to do. They think if they get an All-Star team up there, they're going to win. They STILL HAVEN'T addressed how they can neurtalize Shaq yet. Dummies!!!

seelenjaeger

07-24-2001, 08:40 PM

Steve Kerr and D.Anderson to Portland for Steve Smith according to RealGM.
Done deal.

J

Mavinator

07-24-2001, 09:17 PM

So Portland trades a good-guy off guard for a less talented, younger good-guy off guard? Never mind, Portland won't be that much better next year. At least, not because of this trade...

MavsFanFinley

07-24-2001, 10:43 PM

At least SA will get something in return...

Bayliss

07-26-2001, 07:40 PM

Affects the Spurs quite a bit. Steve Smith is not nearly as athleticaly gifted as Anderson. They (the Spurs) will be exposed again next year, especially when they play the Lakers.

My only question: is Anderson crazy? Sure he makes more money with Portland but he had a much better shot at winning a championship with the Spurs.

MFFL

07-26-2001, 09:13 PM

Young guys don't seem to be motivated by winning a championship as much as they do later in their career. I know there are obvious exceptions - Jordan, Magic, Bird; I'm just stating a generalization.